EU farm leaders have emphasised the need for clear EU marketing, labelling and quality standards to clearly distinguish EU dairy products in the market place and acknowledge the high requirements that producers work to in producing milk and dairy products.

At an EU meeting last week, the European Parliament Environment and Consumer Protection Committee voted in favour of requiring country of origin to be labelled on all dairy products.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will increase its clamp down on illegal food labelling and unauthorised nutrient content claims.

JBS the Brazilian beef and meat processing giant will acquire the Australian firm, Rockdale Beef Partnership. Rockdale Beef has a meatworks capacity of approximately 200,000 cattle per annum combined with a feedlot capacity of over 50,000 cattle.

Elsewhere Rectory Foods has entered into a strategic partnership with Acura Foods Ltd. Rectory Foods' portfolio now extends to include over 50 new fresh and frozen pork and beef products.

Meanwhile in the US, more than $5 million in grants has been allocated to address air quality issues, including reducing agricultural atmospheric emissions and developing new mitigation practices.

On top of that the USDA and Department of Energy have allocated $50 million to develop climate system models that provide insights on climate variability and impacts on ecosystems.

Researchers in California have suggested that reducing meat consumption will not impact climate change.

Frank Mitloehner, a professor at the University of California-Davis said: "We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less meat and milkâ€¦ but by increasing efficient meat production in developing countries, where growing populations need more nutritious food."